Body Tech Biofeedback Training Cramming Mechanics Costs History

BIOFEEDBACK COSTS

It takes some indoctrination and aptitude to use BFT effectively, as represented by the Cramming, Improved Cramming, or Martial Cramming Skills, and a character must have at least one of them to use a BFT rig. In addition to this investment in Character Points, it costs credits to access the curriculum and equipment of a BFT facility.

The access cost for most Knowledge Skills, Languages, and Familiarities content is wrapped into the cost of the rig time by hour, but everything else is considered to be "Premium Curriculum" and there is an extra cost incurred. Combat Skills are considered to be "Martial Curriculum" and time in a suspension rig costs significantly more.

It usually takes about three hours to cram a Skill, but the GM can fluctuate this time as they see fit. Characters that naturally have Eidetic Memory, or Rapid Sight, or exceptional Intelligence can reduce this time significantly (but typically the minimum unit of time is an hour for billing purposes whether a person uses the full hour or not).

Rates vary from location to location and by demand, but the adjoining calculator gives "rule of thumb" guidelines as to how much an hour of rig time costs. BIOFEEDBACK RIG TIME CREDIT COST Hours of Rig Time: Select Curriculum: Standard Premium Exclusive Martial Credit Cost:* *NOTE: These are ballpark figures; a large variety of circumstances will dictate the exact costs involved, but on average the prices will hover in a range of around +/-10% of the amount indicated by the above formulas. Simply enter the number of hours of Rig Time and select the type of Curriculum from the list and the cost will be calculated for you automatically.

For instance, to use a rig for three hours to cram Martial Strike would cost ~900 credits, but to learn Japanese would only cost ~300 credits.

BFT EXISTENCE

The only real downside to using Biofeedback Training is that it reoccuringly eats time and money. However, there is no need for surgery, it can't be detected, and it is not addictive. Those who are big into it swear by it, mainstream user and Runners alike. However, at the end of the day while cybernetics, bioware, and pharmitech can grant all sorts of abilities far beyond human norm, Biofeedback Training is much more modest in its capabilities.

A person particularly good at using BFT can be a respectable Hacker one week, a walking breathing expert on a target company the next, and have all the schematics and street plans of a target site memorized cold the next, but BFT will never grant them the ability to crush metal with cybernetic might or jump wired reflexes up to blinding quickness.

Critics of BFT point out that rather than hiring on a person that is an expert on something for a week, they can hire someone else who really is an expert all the time. Counter-critics point out that a capable individual with the ability to tweak their skill set to suit a task bring general competancy to the table in addition to whatever they've booted up via BFT that week.